Mother Arrested After Lying About Dying Of Cancer

Melissa Quinn, a mother-of-four who claimed to be dying of an inoperable cancer has been arrested after it was discovered that she made the whole thing up.

Ms Quinn first began the ruse in 2014, telling her friends and family that she had developed tutors in her legs and brain.

She also claimed that her only chance for survival was to travel to America for special surgery and so her local community worked hard to assist the woman, raising over $45,000 to fund her treatment.

Cricket Australia and Cricket New South Wales took part in the fundraising efforts, auctioning off signed team uniforms from well known players such as former Australian captain Michael Clarke.

Lorraine Webber, a cancer survivor, also donated to Melissa from her own personal business to help pay for the overseas treatment.

“All the shopkeepers are great, they all get together, the RSL gets together, everyone. If there’s ever anyone that ever needs help, this is the town that helps, they really do,” said Ms Webber.

Melissa then travelled to the US using the money and posted to Facebook to boast about the wonderful treatment that she was receiving. “Really happy with the doctors here. Couldn’t have got better news,” she said.

But as it turns out, the entire thing was a scheme, and Melissa was eventually caught out by her colleagues after she sent a doctor’s certificate to her work using a Gmail account, which they suspected was not authentic.

After contacting the doctor in question, he confirmed that he did not write the medical certificate. Cricket New South Wales eventually reported the issue to police after confronting Melissa.

Ms Quinn has since been arrested and charged with dishonesty obtaining financial advantage by deception, making a false document to obtain financial advantage and using false documents to obtain financial advantage.

When Melissa was arrested she admitted that she had made up the whole thing and had lied to everyone, including her own children.

She has now pleaded guilty to all of the charges and is due to face court next month.